Teachers, school officials talk

With a strike vote just one week away, Chicago teachers and the school management team are scheduled to talk Tuesday.

After 9.5 hours of mediation Monday, the schools' chief negotiator took a break to report some progress.

"We exchanged proposals on all the issues outstanding," said attorney James Franczek Jr., lead negotiator for the Chicago Public Schools. "I think we reduced the degree of distance between the parties."

The Chicago Teachers Union then issued a brief statement that said the Board of Education "submitted a proposal addressing many of the union's key issues, including a modification in the health-care provisions of the tentative agreement."